Computer device for reading e-book and server for being connected with the same

ABSTRACT

A device, server, method, and computer program product for reading an e-book are provided. The e-book may include at least a content identifier corresponding to a content in the e-book. The device may include a content navigator configured to present the content according to a command from a user and a processing unit configured to acquire the content identifier corresponding to the content presented by the content navigator, send the content identifier to a server, and receive from the server a message associated with the content. An output unit configured to output the message to the user may be provided.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Taiwanese Patent ApplicationNumber 99133468 filed on 30 Sep. 2010, the entire contents of which areherein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a computer device for reading ane-book and servers connected with the computer device.

Formats of e-books may include, but are not limited to, what may bedescribed in the Webpage<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats> and thus maynot be described herein in detail for the sake of brevity.

Conventional e-book reading devices, such as KINDLE (device) of AMAZONor NOOK of BARNES and NOBLE, may work by downloading e-books through anetwork or a 3G mobile phone network, such that users may read thee-books.

Furthermore, ordinary personal computers, handheld electronic devices,and mobile phones (such as IPHONE or IPOD TOUCH of APPLE) may alsofunction as e-book reading devices when installed with an e-book readingprogram. Examples of e-book reading programs may be ACROBAT READER ofADOBE, KINDLE (software) of AMAZON, and MICROSOFT READER of MICROSOFT.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an embodiment, a computer device for reading an e-book may comprise acontent navigator configured to present content to a user according to acommand from the user. The computer device may further comprise aprocessing unit in communication with the content navigator configuredto execute an application, communicate with a server, acquire a contentidentifier corresponding to the content presented by the contentnavigator, send the content identifier to the server, and receive fromthe server a message associated with the content. The computer devicemay additionally comprise an output unit in communication with theprocessing unit configured to output the message to the user. The e-bookmay include at least the content identifier corresponding to the contentand may include the content.

In an embodiment a network service server may comprise a databaseconfigured to store a plurality of service data. The network serviceserver may further comprise a searching module configured for searchingthe database according to a content identifier sent from a computerdevice, and further configured to select a corresponding service datafrom the plurality of service data. The server may be configured togenerate a message according to the corresponding service data andreturn the message to the computer device. The server may be configuredto be in communication with the computer device via a network. Theserver may be configured to receive the content identifier from thecomputer device and to return the message to the computer device.

In an embodiment, a method may comprise presenting e-book content to auser according to a command from the user via a content navigatorincluded in a computer device. The method may further comprise acquiringa content identifier corresponding to the e-book content presented bythe content navigator included in the computer device. The method mayadditionally comprise sending the content identifier to a server via thecomputer device. The method may also comprise receiving from the servera message associated with the e-book content via the computer device.Moreover, the method may comprise outputting the message to the user viathe computer device. The e-book may include the e-book content and atleast the content identifier corresponding to the e-book content.

In an embodiment, a computer program product may reside on a computerreadable storage medium having a plurality of instructions storedthereon, which, when executed by a processor, may cause the processor toperform operations comprising presenting e-book content to a useraccording to a command from the user via a content navigator. Theoperations may further comprise acquiring a content identifiercorresponding to the e-book content presented by the content navigator.The operations may additionally comprise sending the content identifierto a server. The operations may also comprise receiving from the servera message associated with the e-book content. The operations mayadditionally comprise outputting the message to the user. An e-book mayinclude the e-book content and at least the content identifiercorresponding to the e-book content.

Reference throughout this specification to features or similar languagedoes not imply that all of the features that may be realized with thepresent invention should be or are in any single embodiment of theinvention. Rather, language referring to the features is understood tomean that a specific feature or characteristic described in connectionwith an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the presentinvention. Thus, discussion of the features and similar language,throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to thesame embodiment.

Furthermore, the described features and characteristics of the inventionmay be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Oneskilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention may bepracticed without one or more of the specific features of a particularembodiment. In other instances, additional features and may berecognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in allembodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a computer device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of servers according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 4 shows an example of a message provided by the servers and relatedto a content of an e-book.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In an embodiment, one or more features described in the presentdisclosure may include detecting by an e-book reading device a contentof an e-book being read by the user and sending a content identifier toa server, feeding by the server a message related to the content back tothe e-book reading device, such that the user may be provided withadditional reference information while reading the e-book.

In an embodiment, one or more features described in the presentdisclosure may include returning a message to a computer device. Serversmay provide information other than the e-book being read by the user,which may be annotations related to the content of the e-book,background data about the e-book, a translation of the e-book, andcomparison of versions of the e-book. Furthermore, the servers may alsoprovide a social networking service such that, after logging in thesocial networking service, the user may publish or read annotations orcomments with respect to a specific content. The servers may also allowtwo social networking service members to conduct real-time communicationor instant messaging with each other while they may be reading the sameor related content.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the e-book may include atleast a content identifier corresponding to a content of the e-book. Thecomputer device may include a content navigator configured to presentthe content according to a command from the user, a processing unitconfigured to acquire the content identifier corresponding to thecontent presented by the content navigator, send the content identifierto a server, and receive a message returned by the server and related tothe content. The computer device may also include an output unitconfigured to output the message to the user.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the server may include adatabase configured to store a plurality of service data, and asearching module configured for searching the database according to thecontent identifier sent from the computer device, so as to select acorresponding service data from the plurality of service data. Theserver may generate the message according to the corresponding servicedata and may return the message to the computer device.

It should be noted that the features or operations described in thepresent disclosure may be performed entirely by a client device, acomputer device, or a server, or may be performed partially by theclient device, the computer device or the server, or may be performed bya combination of two or more of the client device, the computer device,or the server. In an embodiment, the computer device may be a clientdevice.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus,appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” andsimilar language throughout this specification may, but do notnecessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

Referring now to FIG. 1 through FIG. 4, a system, devices, methods, andcomputer program products are illustrated as structural or functionalblock diagrams or process flowcharts according to various embodiments ofthe present invention. The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figuresmay illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation ofpossible implementations of systems, methods and computer programproducts according to various embodiments of the present invention. Inthis regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may representa module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or moreexecutable instructions for implementing the specified logicalfunction(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware andcomputer instructions.

The “content identifier” disclosed herein may be adapted to identify theposition of a specific content of an e-book. Hence, the design of thestructure of the e-book of the present invention may embody the conceptof the “position” of the content, such that a computer device of thepresent invention or software may position a specific content of thee-book. Accordingly, the “content identifier” described herein maypertain to the design of the content structure of the e-book but mayhave nothing to do with the content per se. For example, an emptycontent may also be set to a content identifier.

The EPUB format of an e-book may be used as an example to furtherillustrate the “content identifier” of the present invention. However,persons skilled in the art may understand that other e-book formats maybe applicable to the present invention, too.

For the EPUB formats of e-books, one may refer to a lecture(http://www.daisy.org/epub/) delivered on EPUB at DAISY (DigitalAccessible Information System) Consortium. In the EPUB format, an e-bookmay comprise the following metadata: title, language, and bookidentifier (such as ISBN). The book identifier described herein may beintended to identify the e-book (as opposed to other e-books) and thusmay be different from the content identifier described herein.

In the EPUB format, the contents of the e-book in its entirety maycomprise multiple files (XHTML documents). In a “manifest” tag of an OPFfile or in a “navmap” tag of an NCX file, each content file (XHTMLdocument) may have an item ID, such as “title,” “abstract,” “Part 1,”“Chapter 1,” or “Appendix”. The item ID may be unique to each of thefiles (items) which together may form the e-book and thus does not varywith the layout (such as page size and font size) of the e-bookdisplayed on a reading device; hence, item ID may function as a contentidentifier of the e-book configured for identifying a specific content(such as the content of a specific chapter or paragraph).

The above-mentioned example is illustrative, rather than restrictive, ofthe present invention. For example, an e-book with the EPUB format maybe basically free of “page number,” though it may be feasible to set anidentifier for a content of the e-book by means of a “pagetarget” tagthat may be additionally extended and defined in an NCX file, such thatthe identifier of the “pagetarget” tag may function as the contentidentifier for identifying a specific content (corresponding to acontent of a specific page in a physical book, for example).Nonetheless, a “page number” defined with the “pagetarget” tag may bedifferent from a “page number” that may be dynamically created by areading device for the purpose of the layout of the e-book. The lattermay be likely to vary with a user's setting (such as font size). Hence,the former may be the content identifier of the present invention, butthe latter may not. ADOBE may employ a page-map tag developed by EPUB toembed page numbers of a physical book in e-books, such that it may beused as the content identifier of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer device 10 according to anembodiment of the present invention. The computer device 10 may becapable of network connection and thus may be connected to or incommunication with one or more servers 20 via a network. In particular,the computer device 10 may comprise a display screen 102, an output unit104, an input unit 106, a content navigator 108, and a processing unit110.

It should be noted that the computer device 10 may be implemented withan ordinary personal computer or notebook computer. Computer device 10may be an e-book reading device, that is, it may be a dedicated devicesuch as the KINDLE (device) of AMAZON or NOOK of BARNES and NOBLE. Thedisplay screen 102 may be an electronic paper display screen forpresenting the e-book to the user. The output unit 104 may output aprompt message other than the e-book to the user; hence, the output unit104 may be another display screen independent of the display screen 102(please refer to NOOK of BARNES and NOBLE) or may be integrated with thedisplay screen 102 to not only enable the display screen 102 to displaythe e-book but also allow the display screen 102 to function as theoutput unit 104 for displaying the prompt message. However, the outputunit 104 may not be limited to a display screen, the output unit 104 mayalso be an audio output unit for outputting an audio message.

The input unit 106 may be a keyboard, a touch pad, or a touchscreenwhich may be integrated with the display screen 102. The user may enteran e-book navigation command (for scrolling or going to a specificchapter or paragraph) with the input unit 106. The content navigator 108may be configured to display the content anticipated by the user on thedisplay screen 102 according to the navigation command.

The processing unit 110 may be configured to execute an application APand to communicate with the servers 20. For example, the processing unit110 may be configured to download an e-book from the servers 20 and sendthe e-book to the computer device 10. Or, alternatively, the processingunit 110 may be configured to upload to the servers 20 any data enteredby the user with the input unit 106 or any data stored in the computerdevice 10.

The processing unit 110 may be connected to or in communication with thecontent navigator 108 and may communicate therewith. Once the contentnavigator 108 displays the content anticipated by the user on thedisplay screen 102 according to the navigation command, the applicationAP may be configured to and may fetch the content identifier IDcorresponding to the content, send the content identifier ID to theservers 20, receive a message MSG returned by the servers 20 and relatedto the content, and send it to the user by the output unit 104 such thatit may function as a prompt for the user.

The application AP may be configured to send user data (such asnationality, phone number, email account, social network info, securitypreference etc) to the servers 20 as needed, such that the user data mayenable the servers 20 to identify the user of the computer device 10 andthus may enable the servers 20 to return the message MSG suitable forthe user.

In an embodiment, the application AP may comprise an extension frameworkEF configured for providing one or more communication interfaces wherebythe application AP may communicate with one or more services which maybe available on the servers 20. For example, with the extensionframework EF, the application AP may login a social networking service(to be described later) provided by the servers 20. Alternatively, theapplication AP, may be coupled with the servers 20, configured toperform data mining based on a record of the content identifier ID inconjunction with the user's reading status data sent to the server 20when reading, such as user's reading date and time information, locationinformation (if the computer device is equipped with a GPS), to analyzethe user's reading characteristics (such as reading speed, contentpreference, reading hours, or reading frequency etc.) or, when the userdata are available, to even further analyze the correlation between theuser's characteristics (such as age, gender, marital status, and/ordomicile etc.) and the user's reading characteristics. Alternatively,the application AP may work in conjunction with the servers 20 which maybe applicable to the Reading Merit Badge of U.S. Scouting ServiceProject, for example, in carrying out a follow-up assessment ofparticipants' reading achievements with the content identifier ID. Theservers 20 also may be configured to provide a recommendation servicewhereby book references may be given to various users according to theresult of data mining.

The processing unit 110 may be configured to send a metadata (such astitle, language, or ISBN) of the aforesaid e-book to the servers 20 asneeded, such that the metadata may enable the servers 20 to recognize ane-book currently being read by the computer device 10. However, for thesake of brevity, some embodiments may presume that the computer device10 is specially designed and may only read a preset e-book; hence, theprocessing unit 110 may not necessarily send a metadata of an e-book tothe servers 20.

FIG. 2 may be a schematic view of networking service servers 20according to an embodiment of the present invention. Each of the servers20 may be in communication with one or more said computer devices 10 viathe network 30. For example, the servers 20 may be configured to allowthe computer device 10 to download an e-book. Alternatively, thecomputer device 10 may be configured to upload data stored therein tothe servers 20. In particular, the servers 20 may be configured toreceive from the computer device 10 the content identifiers ID ofe-books, compare the content identifiers ID according to a predeterminedrule, and return to the computer device 10 messages MSG related tospecific contents of the e-books. The messages MSG may include text,pictures, sound, video, or a multimedia message resulting from acombination thereof.

The servers 20 may be implemented in the form of IBM Blade Center orSystem X server.

A server 20 may be in communication with a client device 10 via thenetwork 30. The network 30 may be any type of network such as theInternet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), avirtual private network (VPN), etc. In any event, communication betweenthe server 20 and the client device 10 may occur via a direct hardwiredconnection (e.g., serial port), or via an addressable connection thatmay utilize any combination of wire line and/or wireless transmissionmethods. Moreover, conventional network connectivity, such as TokenRing, Ethernet, WiFi or other conventional communications standards maybe used. Still yet, connectivity may be provided by conventional TCP/IPsockets-based protocol. In addition, it should be understood, however,that although not shown, other hardware and software components (e.g.,additional computer systems, routers, firewalls, etc.) may be includedin the network 30.

In an embodiment, the servers 20 may comprise a database 202 and asearching module 204. A plurality of service data may be stored in thedatabase 202. The searching module 204 may have the content identifierID and a match table (not shown) of service data, and searches thedatabase 202 according to the content identifier ID sent from thecomputer device 10, and may be configured to select appropriatecorresponding service data from the database 202. The servers 20 may beconfigured to generate a message MSG according to the selectedcorresponding service data and return the message MSG to the computerdevice 10. The corresponding service data may comprise any data relatedto an e-book content identified by the content identifier ID, that is,information which is not related to the e-book per se, including anannotation related to the content, background data, a translation, aversion comparison, or even an advertisement which may be placed in anattempt to appeal to the user.

In an embodiment, the computer device 10 may be configured to providethe user data for the servers 20, and the searching module 204 maycomprise the content identifier ID, the user data, and a match table(not shown) of service data, and may be configured to search thedatabase 202 according to the user data and the content identifier IDsent from the computer device 10, so as to select corresponding servicedata from the database 202.

Also, as shown in FIG. 2, it may be feasible that some of the servers 20do not comprise the database 202 and the searching module 204. Forexample, some of the servers 20 may be dedicated to taking charge of thefundamental operation (to be described later) of the social networkingservice. Alternatively, some of the servers 20 may be configured toanalyze (i.e. the aforesaid data mining) the user's behavior pertainingto reading the e-book according to the content identifier ID sent fromthe computer device 10, and may be configured to return the analysisresult to the computer device 10 by the message MSG. For example, theservers 20 may be configured to analyze the user's reading speed bymaking reference to the time taken by the computer device 10 to conveythe content identifier ID. This embodiment may apply to testingstudents' reading performance.

FIG. 3 may be a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 3, a social networking service in an embodiment of thepresent invention is illustrated with reference to the computer deviceshown in FIG. 1, and the networking service servers shown in FIG. 2. Asocial networking service, may be, for example, FACEBOOK, PLURK,TWITTER, and ORKUT; hence, details of a social networking service maynot be described herein in detail for the sake of brevity. The socialnetworks disclosed herein may not necessarily be open social networkingservices otherwise described in the above examples. In an embodiment,for the sake of brevity, a social networking service may be implementedin the form of a private social networking service, wherein only readers(or buyers) of a preset e-book are eligible to become members of thesocial networking service, which is further described below. However,persons skilled in the art should understand that the present inventionis not limited thereto.

It should be noted that, in an embodiment, a social networking servicemay be provided by one or more said servers 20. Multiple said servers 20may be available as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and this embodiment isnot restrictive of the positions of the servers 20, wherein the servers20 are connected to or in communication with each other via the network30. Furthermore, a social networking service provided by the servers 20may not necessarily be operated by the servers 20 to the full; instead,the servers 20 may be constructed on another existing social networkingservice (such as FACEBOOK, PLURK, TWITTER, and ORKUT) to form a virtualgroup, wherein one of the servers 20 may be configured to take care ofthe administrative work performed on the virtual group.

In operation 300, the computer device 10 may be configured to downloadan e-book from the servers 20. The e-book may include the “contentidentifier” corresponding to a specific content of the e-book. The userof the computer device 10 may have to enter the user data into theservers 20 before downloading an e-book, such that the servers 20 may beconfigured to create a correlation between the user and the downloadede-book.

In operation 302, in response to the e-book downloading operation, theservers 20 may be configured to automatically make and may automaticallymake the user join the membership of a social networking service (or avirtual group on an existing social networking service), and may beconfigured to give and may give the user an authority that entitles theuser to access the social networking service with the computer device10, such that the user may be enabled to login the servers 20 with thecomputer device 10 to access the social networking service. In anembodiment, if the servers 20 allow more than one said e-book to bedownloaded, the user who is going to login the servers 20 may otherwiserequest that the title or the book identifier (such as ISBN) be includedin the login data, so as to participate in a group in the socialnetworking service, wherein the group corresponds to the e-book.

In operation 304, the user may be enabled to read the downloaded e-bookon the computer device 10 and may enter a navigation command with theinput unit 106, such that the content navigator 108 may be configured todisplay and may display the content anticipated by the user on thedisplay screen 102 according to the navigation command. In operation306, the application AP of the computer device 10 may be configured tofetch and may fetch the content identifier ID corresponding to thecontent displayed in operation 304, and may be configured to send andmay the content identifier ID to the servers 20. If a connection betweenthe servers 20 and the computer device 10 is not built before thecontent identifier ID is sent to the servers 20, it may be that theapplication AP has to login the servers 20 and the social networkingservice with the user data.

In operation 308, after the servers 20 may have received the contentidentifier ID of the computer device 10, the searching module 204 of theservers 20 may be configured to and may search for and collect thecontent identifier ID provided by other members of the social networkingservice and related to the e-book (in operations 300-306 as well, forexample), and may be configured to and may compare the contentidentifier ID provided by other members of the social networking serviceand related to the e-book with the content identifier ID of the computerdevice 10, so as to make a member shortlist as a result of screening themembership and then select corresponding membership data from thedatabase 202 according to the member shortlist. For example, thesearching module 204 may make the member shortlist by setting thescreening criterion to equality of content identifiers ID. Or,alternatively, it may be that the screening criterion may be based oncontent identifiers ID which may be different and yet corresponding toeach other according to a predetermined rule (such as the contentidentifier ID related to consecutive chapters or paragraphs).Furthermore, the aforesaid corresponding membership data may comprisethe members' contact information, the members' reading status withregard to the e-book, as well as annotations or comments made by themembers, related to an e-book or even related to a content correspondingto the content identifier ID of the e-book, and published on the socialnetworking service.

It should be noted that, in operation 308, by comparing the contentidentifiers ID, the searching module 204 may be configured to and maysubstantially screen out members who are currently reading identical orrelevant contents of the e-book. As mentioned earlier, the contentidentifier ID may correspond to the position of a content but may havenothing to do with the content per se; hence, the present disclosure maybe applicable, provided that e-books have the same content identifier IDdesign (such as the same chapter/paragraph design) and encompassdifferent revision versions, different language versions, and evendifferent e-book formats.

In operation 310, the servers 20 may be configured to and may return thecorresponding membership data to the computer device 10 by a message MSGso as to respond to the content identifier ID sent in operation 306 fromthe computer device 10. In operation 312, the output unit 104 of thecomputer device 10 may be configured to and may output the message MSGshown in FIG. 4, so as to present a corresponding membership data to theuser. It should be noted that, for example only, the message MSG in FIG.4 shows only a member name and a reading status (the same chapter or thesame page). However, the message MSG may be further expanded to showmore membership data, if the user clicks on (or touches) the triangularpointer at the lower right corner. For example, the additionalmembership data may include annotations or comments made by the members,related to a corresponding content, and published on the socialnetworking service, or any data published on a social network by themembers and permissibly shared by the users of the computer device 10.

After operation 312, optionally, the users of the computer device 10 mayalso enter annotations or comments on the content corresponding to theircontent identifiers ID, and then the annotations or comments may be sentto the servers 20 by the processing unit 110 and published on the socialnetworking service. Or, alternatively, the users of the computer device10 may click on the message MSG in FIG. 4 to perform real-timecommunication with the members by means of the social networkingservice.

In operation 308 of the aforesaid embodiment, the searching module 204may be configured to and may compare the content identifier ID providedby other members and related to the e-book with the content identifierID of the computer device 10. However, in an embodiment, the searchingmodule 204 may be configured to and may compare other data related toother members with the content identifier ID of the computer device 10.For example, the searching module 204 may record: member A is the authorof chapter 1 of the e-book. Hence, if the content identifier ID of thecomputer device 10 matches chapter 1 of the e-book, the searching module204 may select the membership data of member A from the database 202 andtreat it as the corresponding membership data.

The foregoing embodiments are provided to illustrate and disclose thetechnical features of the present disclosure, and are not intended to berestrictive of the scope of the present disclosure. Hence, allequivalent variations or modifications made to the foregoing embodimentswithout departing from the spirit embodied in the present disclosureshould fall within the scope of the present disclosure as set forth inthe appended claims.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, apparatus, method or computerprogram product. Accordingly, and as mentioned above, aspects of thepresent invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment,an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardwareaspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,”“module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention maytake the form of a computer program product embodied in one or morecomputer readable medium(s) having computer readable program codeembodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention may be described below with referenceto flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and/or computer program products according to embodiments ofthe invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures may illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

A number of embodiments and implementations have been described.Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade. Accordingly, other embodiments and implementations are within thescope of the following claims.

1-19. (canceled)
 20. A method comprising: presenting e-book content to a user according to a command from the user via a content navigator included in a computer device; acquiring a content identifier corresponding to the e-book content presented by the content navigator included in the computer device; sending the content identifier to a server via the computer device; receiving from the server a message associated with the e-book content via the computer device; and outputting the message to the user via the computer device, wherein an e-book includes the e-book content and at least the content identifier corresponding to the e-book content.
 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing an electronic paper display screen for displaying the e-book content.
 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the message is a multimedia message. 23-25. (canceled) 